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Relatives of victims file $12 million worth of lawsuits against Aaron Hernandez

By Jenny WilsonThe Hartford Courant

Relatives of two men shot to death in Boston in 2012 have filed wrongful death lawsuits against former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez of Bristol, Conn.

The lawsuits ask for a total of more than $12 million and were filed by the father of Safiro Furtado and the brother of Daniel DeAbreu. The two were killed in a drive-by shooting in Boston's South End.

Prosecutors have not filed charges in the double homicide, but Hernandez's suspected role is widely known. A grand jury in Suffolk County, Mass., has been investigating the 24-year-old Bristol native since the summer, after police seized a vehicle from a Hernandez family home in Bristol. Surveillance footage shows the former New England Patriot operating the silver SUV within an hour of the shooting.

Court documents released in January identify Hernandez as the potential gunman, and suggest he circled a block in his SUV while waiting for the victims to enter their own vehicle before they were shot about 3 a.m. on July 16, 2012.

Hernandez faces a murder charge in the 2013 shooting of Odin Lloyd, a man whom he met through his fiancee. Lloyd's family also is seeking access to the former Patriot's assets, including his million-dollar house in North Attleborough, Mass.

Once a star in the NFL, Hernandez has been incarcerated in Bristol County, Mass., since he was arrested in June. Several others from Bristol face charges related to Lloyd's killing, including Hernandez's fiancee, his cousin and two men from his hometown who were with him and the victim the night of the shooting.

Prosecutors have provided defense lawyers with evidence that they say suggests Lloyd had knowledge of the Boston double homicide.

In a letter to defense lawyers _ which Hernandez's attorneys received from prosecutors and subsequently made public in a court filing _ Bristol County Assistant District Attorney William McCauley said he has turned over to them "evidence that Odin Lloyd possessed information in (the) Boston homicide."

The exact nature of the information is not revealed in court records, but its existence provides a clue into what prosecutors might be exploring as a motive in the Lloyd slaying.

Defense lawyers also asked for any evidence that Lloyd was involved in the drive-by shooting. McCauley said that none existed.

In court documents unsealed in January, law enforcement authorities say Hernandez might have been the gunman in the Boston killings.

In a 14-page affidavit for the search and seizure of a Toyota 4Runner, believed to be the vehicle used in the shooting, detectives detailed their case against Hernandez, who they said was driving the vehicle used in the double homicide. The silver SUV was recovered in June as police searched a Bristol home looking for evidence in the Lloyd murder.